Starlight
by Slazer
Summary: Years after a pair of heroic Pokemon saved their world, the age of Exploration continues as two young Pokemon grow up in peaceful times. Not all is well, however, as this young duo will learn on their journey through life under the dim stars.


**A/N:**** Now, I know what everyone reading this is thinking: 'OH MY ARCEUS, HE'S ALLLIIIVVVEEEE!!!! _;;;'**

**Yeah, I AM ALIVE. My story-updating schedule has been a complete mess in recent weeks… months… ok, the whole time! But thankfully, I think I may be able to bring my update speed up to par for once. =)**

**Another multi-chapter story from me. I REALLY need to keep up with the ones I HAVE first, but this idea has been racking my brain for weeks, and I felt that if I didn't get it down on paper I'd have a 'brain attack'. O_O;**

**Rest assured, I have NOT forgotten about AMLM or FoB. I will be trying to write updates for those stories as well; I just hope my muse stays for a while, or I may have a problem. O_o;**

**But enough author banter. Please, enjoy the story! =D**

* * *

The sun was just beginning to rise above the horizon for Hikari Street, signaling the beginning of a new day for its ample Pokemon residents. As a purely Pokemon region, and as the home of countless Exploration Teams, many Pokemon were either already up or about to wake up to complete their morning tasks, as they do every day.

In one particular home- a modest multi room house with grass covering the outside, stone in the middle, and a special flame-retardant wood making up the inside- a young Cyndaquil lay curled up on a bed of fireproof grass, his body rising and falling in the rhythmic pattern of his quiet breathing. Short khaki fur covered him from his belly and chest all the way down to the short, blunt claws on the tips of his two back paws, while navy-blue fur that was maybe a centimeter or two longer than his belly fur covered most of his back region, stretching all the way to the tip of his extended nose. The navy-blue fur was ever so slightly lighter than a normal Cyndaquil's, but only by a small margin.

As the sun began shining its light through the glassless window of the Cyndaquil's wooden-floored room, it was kind enough to shine directly into his eyes and attempt to draw him from his peaceful slumber. He mumbled in his sleep and rolled to the left in a subconscious attempt to get out of the sun's rays… and ended up rolling right off of his comfortable bed of leaves and onto the cold wooden floor.

"…Ow." The young Cyndaquil mumbled, now awake and looking at the upside down wooden wall in front of him. In his post-sleep groggy state, it took him a moment to realize that it wasn't the _wall_ that was upside down, but once he did he rolled back over onto his bed and onto his paws, yawning a little loudly as his body tried to wake itself up and prepare for another day.

"Tane, sweetie! Are you up?" A familiar voice called from another room in the house, a girl's voice. Once he finished yawning, he started making his bed- which meant picking up any stray leaves and putting them back in the bed- while shouting back to his mother.

"Yes, mom!" After his bed was finished, he turned around and walked to the wooden door, pushing it open with his smaller forepaws and walking into the medium-length hallway that connected all of the 'private' rooms to the 'public' ones up front.

The hallway had several doors leading to the four different rooms; his room and the rarely-used guest bedroom were on the right side, a large storage room with double doors on the left, and finally a door at the end of the grass-'carpeted' hallway that lead to the bedroom his mom and dad shared. He walked down the hallway towards the public rooms up front, which was where his mom probably was. Sure enough, once he walked out of the hallway, his Quilava mother was there to greet him, grooming her fur.

"Hi, honey. Your dad already left for work." The female Volcano Pokemon commented in a happy tone of voice; something had to be going well today, as she had a bright smile on her face and her ruby eyes seemed very bright. Without ever losing her smile, she turned to her sun and spoke in that same cheerful tone.

"Tane, I've got to go to Beach Cave for a field test. Could you go to the Kecleon Mart and pick up some berries, apples, and chocolate for me?" Her request made the young Cyndaquil's mouth water; whenever his mother used the words 'berries' or 'apples' in the same sentence as 'chocolate', good things came later.

"Sure, mom!" He couldn't help but grin at the prospect of having his mom's chocolate-covered berries after dinner today; looking at the two of them like this, you could easily see how they were mother and son.

"Thanks, sweetie. Here's some Poke to pay with." She walked behind a countertop that came up to her ears and pulled open a small draw, removing two '100-Poke' coins and a small duffle bag-like clothe sack. She put the coins inside of the bag and closed it by the strings before handing it to her son, still smiling. "Remember, Tane: n-" She began, but Tane finished the sentence- which he'd heard literally _hundreds_ of times before- with her.

"No fighting. I know, mom." That family tradition was something he understood, but didn't _understand_. For the last four generations, his family had forsaken all forms of fighting and battle in favor of becoming pacifists, and his parents had taken that tradition to absolute heart. He had his doubts, but he always kept them secret… just like the times he 'went to play with a friend' and actually went to the Marowak Dojo for training.

"Ok, Tane. I keep forgetting that you're eleven now…" The smile on his mother's face became more serene for a few moments, a more motherly look compared to the full-blown happiness that had been there a few moments before. Then she took a long look over the condition of her son's fur, and a bit of a playful smile appeared on her muzzle. "Maybe you should clean up, first."

"Huh?" Tane looked a little confused, but when he turned his head to look into a mirror on the countertop, he couldn't help but laugh a little. He had a _horrible_ case of 'bed fur', much of it ruffled and fluffed in all directions; hardly the sleek, clean look that he liked his fur to have whenever he was outside. "Yeah, I'll go to the Mart once I fix this… I look like a Mankey." He grinned as he turned around and walked towards the hallway again, heading for his room.

* * *

A few minutes afterwards, the young Cyndaquil was walking down the dirt road that was Hikari Street, staying towards the far sides. While all of this had sprung up in just a few years, there were sets of rules already set down for Pokemon when it came to traveling; the center of any road was reserved for larger Pokemon while the sides were for the smaller species.

As he moved down the road with the sun high overhead, he could almost feel the peace that enveloped the region now, not like it had been when he was a small child. Even a Pokemon of his age knew the tale of the two brave Pokemon who traversed countless dangers to bring the legendary Time Gears to the peak of Temporal Tower six years earlier, two Pokemon he admired greatly. Four years earlier, however, they made the decision to leave Treasure Town and head for parts unknown… and that was where the legends ended.

"_What happened to them?_"That was a question that always echoed in his mind when he thought about those tales and the two legendary explorers they told of. Where did they go? What did they do? Are they all right? Like any young Pokemon, he had curiosity… and a lot of it.

He continued to ponder those questions as he neared the hub of the region, Treasure Town. Once he felt his paws reach the well-worn dirt road that went through the economics center of the region, he broke his thought process and reminded himself of why he was here: to go to the Kecleon Mart and buy the berries and stuff for his mom.

He proceeded to the market, trying weaving through the Pokemon that were crowded there; it was roughly noon, so Treasure Town was bustling with many Pokemon there for similar reasons as him: shopping for necessities and the like. Inside the Kecleon head-shaped shop, the twin Kecleon Brothers- experts at managing this form of chaos, handled the constantly incoming item requests with amazing efficiency and accuracy.

"Um… excuse me, Travis, sir?" Tane waved his paw, trying to get the green Kecleon's attention. After he took the item order of a Breloom in front of Tane, the 'normal-colored' Kecleon turned to the Cyndaquil and smiled.

"Welcome to the Kecleon shop~! What can I get for you today?" He asked in a sing-song voice, a pretty effective sales pitch by any merchant's standards. Tane knew he'd try to sell him other stuff, but he only had a small amount of Pokemon today; just enough to get what his mom wanted.

"Could I get a bag of berries, three apples, and a bar of chocolate please?" The Cyndaquil asked, opening his small sack and removing the two hundred-Poke coins. The Kecleon wasted no time in taking the two coins, checking their values while turning around and walking into the back of the shop to get the items he asked for. Travis returned moments later with an armful of items, far more then he asked for, but he moved to hand some of them out to other customers before turning back to Tane with only his items in hand.

"Here you are!" The Kecleon smiled, being nice enough to take Tane's sack and put all of the bought items into the woven bag before tightening the string to close the opening and handing it back to the Cyndaquil, who hung it around his neck. "Have a nice day~!"

"Thanks!" Tane grinned back to him and about faced, trying to weave through the mass crowd that was still in front of the Kecleon Mart. When he finally popped free from the large amount of Pokemon, he started back down the dirt road for home. The look on his face pretty much read that the lights were on but nobody was home as he walked idly, keeping his eyes on the road… so much so that he failed to notice a Bagon stopped in front of him with his back to the Cyndaquil. The moment he bumped into the Bagon, he spun around and glared at him with a fierce expression, an angry one by far.

"Watch where you're going, rat!" The Bagon snapped, with a frightened Tane backing up pretty quickly under the influence of this Bagon's piercing glare.

"I-I'm sorry! I was j-just thinking!" He stammered, afraid of what this Pokemon might try. He already knew he was under attack- that was a Leer attack, no question- but he didn't know if he'd take it further. It was just his luck, too, that all the Pokemon were at the Kecleon Mart; this part of Treasure Town was close to empty, with but a few indifferent wanderers about.

"Thinking? On the road? You should know better." The Bagon growled slightly, but his angry expression gradually changed into a smirk… something that slightly surprised Tane until he saw where the Rock Head Pokemon was looking right at the bag on his neck. "How about you hand over those goods as compromise?"

At that request, Tane stiffened and looked at the Bagon with a frightened expression. He didn't want to give up the items he'd spent mom's money buying and come home with nothing, but he could tell this Bagon was _demanding_, not asking. It was incidents like _this_ that made him question the family tradition most of all… why couldn't they defend themselves?

He truly didn't know why this tradition had started, he didn't know why every generation of their family had passed it on, and he didn't know why his parents were so hell-bent on upholding it. What he _did_ know was that he was being threatened and ordered to hand over things that belonged to his family, and according to the 'all-mighty' tradition, he should just let this guy walk all over him.

"_No… I won't let him take our food._" Tane made his decision, and shook his head vigorously to the Bagon to let it be known. The Dragon-type didn't take kindly to this kind of stubbornness, and the smirk fell from his mouth like a two-ton anvil dropped from a cliff.

"Fine, we'll do this the hard way." The Bagon sounded plain pissed off now as he lowered his head in what Tane recognized as preparation for a Headbutt attack. The Cyndaquil took a breath and slowly lowered his body, a little unsure of what to really do; this was his first true battle experience, so all he could do was trust his instincts and pray to Arceus that they didn't let him down.

After an agonizingly tense few seconds, the Bagon charged forward with his grayish armor on the top of his head aimed right for Tane's chest. The Cyndaquil squeezed his eyes shut and listened to the voice in his head, leaping to the right to avoid the oncoming Dragon-type before turning around quickly and inhaling quickly.

Tane felt his inner fire stir and awaken with his back flames as his body readied for attack, the Bagon skidding to a stop just moments before he would've smashed into a Hoothoot totem pole nearby, but when he turned around and saw the fire-type readying an attack he quickly lowered his head and charged forward one more time.

This time Tane was ready for him. Exhaling with all the might his lungs could muster, he unleashed a barrage of orangey-red flame bolts that hit the charging Bagon right on his armored head, stopping him cold. Trying with all his might to stand his ground, the Bagon slid backwards slowly with his feet digging into the dirt beneath him.

He held his head down for as long as he could, but eventually the force of the fire bolts- which were more powerful than he expected them to be, given Tane's family line- pushed it back up and allowed the Ember attack to hit him right on the chest. Seeing that his opponents guard was down, Tane seized the opportunity and cut off his attack.

He lowered himself onto all fours and charged forward with a Tackle attack, riding the tail end of his Ember barrage to make sure that he hit this Bagon where it hurt. Eyes closed from the pain of the Fire attack, the Dragon-type didn't know what was coming until it was too late. The impact from the Tackle pushed him right off of his feet, knocking the breath out of him with far more force than he would've expected from the Cyndaquil.

Only able to ride out the attack, the Bagon's eyes shot open when Tane dug his paws into the dirt and forced himself to stop on a dime, leaving his would-be mugger with enough force from the Tackle for him to smash into- and then _through_- the Hoothoot totem pole, the pieces of the wooden structure falling down onto him moments later.

"Whew…" Tane panted and managed to find the breath to sigh in relief, his body exhausted from the tolls of battle due to his inexperience. Of course, by this time Pokemon had finally started to come back in response to the noise… and fate was kind enough to let his father be one of them.

The older Quilava, one of the workers at the Duskull Bank, was the first one to arrive from the Kecleon Shop… and what he saw was his son standing in front of a pile of wooden rubble that once was a totem pole with a Bagon buried beneath it. His son, a Pokemon that by blood was sworn to peace.

"…" The glare that he was giving Tane was enough to melt through solid stone, and when the Cyndaquil himself saw it he swallowed nervously and let the fire on his back die away. He already knew that he was in deep, _deep_ trouble. His mind nearly blank from fright, he said the first thing that came to his mind… and it was probably not the smartest move.

"Uh… I didn't do it."

* * *

**That's the first chapter! Looks like luck is just not with Tane today, is it? XD**

**I'll try to have the next chapter up soon. Until then, constructive criticism is welcome. =)**


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